


Ducks

by Wlammy



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Future Fic, Multi, Original Character(s), Original Child Character(s) - Freeform, Other, quakerider
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-11
Updated: 2020-05-11
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:35:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24126739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wlammy/pseuds/Wlammy
Summary: Following the previous chapter, Daisy now takes the time to talk to Pippa and Robbie before Cal comes over for dinner.
Relationships: Robbie Reyes/Skye | Daisy Johnson, Skye | Daisy Johnson & Cal Zabo
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	Ducks

**Author's Note:**

  * For [marvelsquake](https://archiveofourown.org/users/marvelsquake/gifts).



With her heartbeat still in her throat, Daisy walked along the busy street, her hand firmly holding Pippa’s. “Mommy, you’re going too fast, Turbo’s legs are too little!”, Pippa protested, and Daisy slowed down. “Sorry pumpkin, I was thinking too deep, wasn’t I?”, she said, pulling Pippa and Turbo out of the way of the crowded sidewalk. She kneeled down to face her daughter and brushed a black curl away from her face.

Turbo, the pup, was panting and immediately took advantage of the pause by laying down.

“Were you thinking about the doctor? Is he sick?”, Pippa wondered with a face too serious for a four year old. Daisy stroked her cheek and remorsefully said “I am sorry you had to see me and the doctor like that, Pip, it must have been scary for you.”

Pippa trying to be brave, but also honest, nodded slightly. “Are _you_ sick, mommy?”

Daisy shook her head and said in her most assuring tone “I am not sick and neither is the doctor. What do you say we go to the duck park and talk about it some more?”

To Daisy’s relief, Pippa’s frown made place for a radiant smile. “Ducks are my favorite animal!”

While picking up the sleepy puppy, Daisy pretended to not have a kid’s room at home, filled to the brim with duck toys and stuffed animal ducks to go with the matching ducky wallpaper Pippa picked out, and said “Oh really? I thought it was giraffes?”

She and Pippa walked the three blocks from the vet’s office to the park, all the while suggesting animals she thought were Pippa’s favorite, and the air was light with Pippa’s giggles.

Arrived at the park, they sat down in the grass by the pond. Daisy, warm from the walk, took off her jacket and folded it as a pillow for Pippa to sit on. Turbo continued to sleep in her arms, the tip of his tongue poking out his little snout. Pippa leaned over and pressed her face up against the puppy’s warm body. “I love him so much,” she sighed, stroking his soft ear with her little finger. “Almost as much as I love ducks.”

After a few minutes of peacefully watching children play and an old lady feeding the doves, Pippa lifted up her head. “Was the doctor mad at you? Were you bad?”

“No, sweetie,” Daisy replied. “Doctor Winslow is a very nice and good man but he has had some sad things happen to him a long time ago. Sometimes sad things can make people a little confused.” Pippa did not understand why that would be, but she trusted her mom and asked “why did you cry?”.

Daisy debated how much she would tell her little girl, especially before even talking to Robbie about it. She decided to go with a simplification of the truth.

“A long time ago, doctor Winslow and I knew each other. I was really small, even smaller than you are now!”, she said, and playfully poked Pippa in her side. Pippa laughed and squirmed for a moment. “A big as Turbo? He is very small.”

“You know”, responded Daisy, “I can’t really remember, but probably the size of Turbo! What I do know is that doctor Winslow and I were family. Like how you and daddy are family, or how you and auntie Jemma are family, you know?” Pippa nodded more convincingly this time, she loved auntie Jemma very much, and she loved to think that they belonged together.

“But something really sad happened, and he did not know I was his family anymore. That made me very sad too. But today he saw you and me and I think that made him remember!” Pippa wasn’t sure she understood, but she knew she wasn’t afraid anymore.

Daisy saw Pippa’s eyes glaze over in a deep ponder.

How was she going to ease her mind? She was only four…

With a deep sense of guilt, she repeated “I am really sorry that you were there to see it, Pippa. Everything is fine, I promise. But what is even more important to know, is that doctor Winslow was happy to see it was me and even happier to see it was you!”

“He was happy to see me?”

“Oh yes, very much so!”

“And Turbo?”

Daisy smiled. “Yes, Turbo too.”

Satisfied with this incomplete explanation, Pippa rested her head in Daisy’s lap, next to Turbo’s sleeping face.

“Do you think the doctor likes ducks?”, she suddenly wondered.

Daisy laughed. “I am sure he loves all animals, Pip, he is an animal doctor after all! Now go play, we have to leave in twenty minutes and I have to call daddy, okay? Make sure to stay close where I can see you!”

Pippa got up and walked closer to the pond to look at the ducks that were dozing in the grass. She pointed out a brown mallard (they looked identical to Daisy) and declared “this one is the best!”

She sat down and tried to lure the duck to come to her, but it ignored her, which only seemed to encourage her to speak with even sweeter words to the duck.

Daisy looked at her child, and how cute she looked with her small feet in brown leather sandals and the pink corduroy overalls with a picture of Big Bird on the chest pocket.

She got out her phone, carefully to not wake the dog in her lap, and called Robbie.

“Mi amor, how are you? I was just about to call you!”

A few hours later, Robbie was slicing spring onions on a wooden cutting board to add to the salsa, while peeking at Daisy every so often. She had told him with teary eyes how scared and amazing it had been to meet Cal again and she _herself_ reflected in his eyes, instead of feeling like a stranger. It had scared her too, knowing all the horrible memories would come flooding back to Cal. “And to think he finally had peace of mind, after all these years searching for me!”, she had exclaimed before resting her face against Robbie’s shoulder.

He sighed, and tilted the cutting board over the bowl and scooped the onions into the salsa with the back of his hand. Daisy was stood on the other side of the kitchen counter, mindlessly squeezing the same lime. Gently, Robbie placed his hand over hers. “I think you got all the juice out of that one, Daisy. Why don’t you go sit down? Dinner is almost done anyway.” She looked up at him and stopped squeezing the lime.

“I am just so afraid for him. What if seeing me brought back so much bad?”

Robbie wrapped his arms around her waist and looked deep into her eyes. “I know for a fact that seeing you also brought him so much good!”

Daisy sighed and smiled. “I just -…”

“Yeah?”

“I really do care about him, Rob! We never had time to do any father/daughter things, and…“, tears welled up in her eyes again. “What if I’m not helpful when he struggles? Or not worth it to bring back all those memories of Jiaying, and the torment?”

Robbie pulled her closer and stroked her back, and let her softly cry for a moment.

Then he stated “we don’t _know_ how he feels or how it will be. But with Cal, our family has gotten bigger, and that’s a gift! And speaking from experience, I promise that knowing you and loving you makes so many things so much easier… and just better in general!”

Daisy chuckled “if people only knew how sweet you really are”, and kissed him, her tears leaving shiny trails on his face. With a tea towel, she dried his face and her own. “My god, am I a weepy mess today!”, she remarked.

Robbie laughed “I wasn’t gonna say anything…”

Then he squeezed Daisy’s hands. “If we stick together and maybe ask Coulson for advice on the subject, I’m sure we can make it work with Cal. I promise.” 

“Oh of course, he went through the process of gaining his memories back!”, Daisy said with a hint of relief, and stole a piece of bell pepper from the cutting board.

“What? I eat when I’m a mess, we all know this”, she said with her mouth full. Robbie handed her another piece. “Now out of my kitchen!”, he said, jokingly slapping her behind with the tea towel.

A sudden crashing sound came from the room down the hall, followed by a crying out for Robbie. “Daddy!”   
Turbo got up from his dog bed, where he had been chewing on a toy peacefully, and ran as fast as his paws could carry him to see what the ruckus was about.

Daisy sighed – she had _just_ sat down, got back up and said “you better go check on Pips, I’ll finish up in the kitchen.”

Robbie nodded and rushed to the room with the ducky wallpaper. On the floor, he saw poor Pippa, bleeding from her knee, her hair a mess and big tears on her cheeks. “Daddy, I’m hurt!”, she whimpered, among what looked like a fallen down stack of two stools and her toy chest.

Robbie shook his head. “Oh no, my little monkey, what did you do?”, and reached out his hands. “Can you stand up?” With a pout, Pippa stood up. “Hooray! No broken bones!”, Robbie exclaimed and folded his arms around his daughter. “I think they are broken a little bit, daddy. You have to carry me,” Pippa said with a cheeky sparkle in her eyes. “Oh yeah?”, Robbie said. “I guess I have no choice!”, and he picked her up and carried her to the kitchen with the pup playfully dancing round his ankles.

“Oh dear! I see we have a patient! Let’s see what happened, doctor Reyes!” Daisy said while setting the table.

Pippa put her hands in front of her eyes and giggled gleefully.

“I am hurt very much, mommy. I think my leg is broke. Look, I have blood.” Robbie sat her down on the counter. Lovingly, he cleaned Pippa’s knee and put on a colorful band aid, and Pippa explained what had happened.

“Mommy said the animal doctor liked duckies, so I wanted to give him my duck with the hat to make him feel better, but the duck was too high.” Robbie nodded, fully understanding it now. “You built a tower to get to the duck with the hat, but the tower fell down?”, he asked.

Pippa nodded. Daisy, done with setting the table, joined them by the kitchen counter.

“What do you do when something is too high? Do we build towers or do we ask a grownup?”, she asked, sternly but not unfriendly. Pippa looked down at her feet, dangling from the counter. “Mommy was crying”, she nearly whispered, glancing at Robbie.

“Sweetie,” said Robbie, “we are not angry! It’s just that towers can fall and you can hurt yourself! Next time you want something that is too high, you come and ask mommy or daddy or another grown up, promise?”

Pippa looked up. “Also when mommy is crying?”

“Also when I am crying, Pips! If something would happen to my favorite 4 year old girl, I would cry even more!”, Daisy responded.

Pippa laughed and made a wide arm gesture. “Would you cry this much?” And Robbie made an even wider arm gesture. “I think mommy would cry this much, even!”

Pippa reached out her hands even further, “and how about this much, daddy?”

Robbie spread his arms even wider. “Ok, I think she gets the point”, Daisy interrupted a new game that could have gone on for hours.

Pippa giggled and wrapped her arms around her mother.

“So what do we agree on?”, Daisy asked.

“I will ask you if I need something high.”

“And what are we not gonna do anymore?”

“Umm….” Contemplated Pippa.

“No more building of towers!” Daisy reminded her. 

Robbie kissed his little girl on her knee and lifted her off the counter.

As Daisy watched Pippa skip away to the living room, she quietly remarked to Robbie “You know, for someone who’s head doesn’t burst into flames, she does get in a lot of trouble.” All Robbie could do was sigh and shake his head. How lucky were they when it turned out a fire demon is not hereditary!

He started putting the used knives in the dishwasher, when he heard Pippa’s little footsteps behind him.

“Daddy?”

Robbie turned around and said “yes, monkey?”

“Can you please get the duck with the hat for me?”

Robbie obliged. “Are you sure you want to give this one away, Pippa? It is the one you got from auntie Jemma when you had your tonsils taken out!”, he asked, holding the stuffed animal that had a tiny graduation cap on and a rolled up diploma under its wing.

Pippa was determined it had to be that duck. “It is a smart duck and auntie Jemma says being smart is really important.”

Not following the logic, Robbie shrugged and said “well honey, if you’re sure, let’s go gift wrap him!”

A few minutes later, the doorbell rang. “I’ll get it!”, Daisy’s slightly nervous voice came from the master bedroom. She hastened her way to the door, hushed barking Turbo, quickly checked herself in the mirror in the hallway, and opened the door.

Lanky but beaming, there was Cal.

“Daisy”, he said, his eyes kind and shy.

“Come in, Cal!”, Daisy said, waving him in with her hand.

A little uncertain, Cal walked in, wondering whether he should hug her or not. Daisy closed the door behind him and hesitated for a moment.

“Mister animal doctor!”, Pippa announced herself loudly in the hallway, breaking the awkward silence. “You are not crying!”

Cal chuckled, and shook his head. “You got that right! Not a single tear this time, look!” and he opened his eyes really wide. Pippa laughed and stuck out her hands. In her hands was a big ball of wrapping paper with what must have been about seventeen shiny bows on it. “I have a gift for you. I wrapped it myself!”

Cal put down the tote bag he carried and kneeled down. “A gift? For me?”

Robbie walked into the hallway and saw his wife’s lips tremble again, as she watched them with her head tilted. He put his arm around her shoulder, and they observed Cal and his granddaughter, whose face was now flushed with excitement.

“Open it, open it!”, Pippa encouraged Cal, who took the monstrosity of wrapping paper out of her hands and delicately removed the ribbons as if he was holding a priceless treasure.

When the duck was revealed, Cal gasped and said “Well this has to be the most diddly darn good looking graduation duck I have ever seen! Thank you, miss Pippa!”, and his eyes got a wet shine that Pippa had seen quite a few times that day.

She sighed and took his hand. She pulled him to the living room and mimicked her mom’s stern yet friendly tone when she said “let’s go, daddy made fajitas! You can sit next to me!”

Daisy quickly wiped her one tear on Robbie’s shoulder and chuckled at his silent protest.

She walked to the table and picked up the glass pitcher. It had a few lime slices floating in it.

“Who wants water with their dinner?”, she asked, and Cal held out his glass.

“Yes please!”, he said chipper. Robbie sat down at the head of the table, close to Pippa and whispered “so when am I getting a duck?”

**Author's Note:**

> English is not my first language, so my apologies for any mistakes!  
> Hope you enjoyed my second go at fan fiction :)


End file.
